Ontario Election Debate Hub

John Duffy (Liberal): Dalton McGuinty is the most consistently under-rated politician of his generation, and now, very clearly, one of the most successful. To him and his team go very high honours, and the challenge of charting the choppy waters ahead.

John Duffy (Liberal): It just doesn't feel like the anger is there this time. This is not to suggest that there aren't a lot of disappointed Ontarians, but there isn't enough fury directed at the Liberals to produce the kind of epic sacking that seemed in store for them.

Jason Lietaer (PC): There will always be some kind of allegation of hate or intolerance thrown by the grits. This time, it's homophobia. And it's nonsense. McGuinty's making sure that parents don't have any say in what kids are taught at school about these topics. We stand on the side of parents.

John Duffy (Liberal): Horwath will be under pressure to provide greater clarity regarding her statement about the need for "consensus" in the event of a minority government. I'd imagine she'd rather not leave NDP voters with the impression that she's planning on supporting a Tim Hudak administration.

Jason Lietaer (PC): You know it's unpredictable when leaders start making things up. This week, Mr. McGuinty launched a new jobs plan that's not in his platform, announced a negotiating position for the OMA talks and cancelled a powerplant that looks more like a powerplant than a field.

Jason Lietaer (PC): Ms. Horwath did well. Much improved from her performance on Friday. She was poised and on message, and I think most Ontarians saw her as genuine. Her ideas all sound great until you start to cost them, but that's not the biggest issue in any debate. Details don't win, impressions do.

Jason Lietaer (PC): Dalton Mcguinty's trying to make a difficult case: that things are going to get tougher and you need the same guy to continue. Do you think McGuinty did a good job under tough circumstances? Vote for McGuinty. If you think that his tax increases, high hydro rates and waste made a bad situation worse? Vote for one of the other options.

Heather Fraser (NDP): The challenge for all the leaders in tomorrow's debate is to get past the cameras and the political score cards and actually connect with voters. And if Ms. Horwath comes off as the adult in the room I won't be surprised or bothered because being premier requires adult behaviour.

Heather Fraser (NDP): Who has a message that will motivate voters to go to the polls? Which party has a machine that can help deliver the vote? And which ridings have close races where the outcome really is decided by those who show up? If I were in the Liberal headquarters, I'd be worried.

Jason Lietaer (PC): This is the Hollywood campaign: pretend everyone can get one of the favoured jobs, and when the game of musical chairs ends after the election, tell Ontario families you screwed up again. Sorry. Miscalculated. Just like coal plants. And eco-fees. And eHealth.

Jason Lietaer (PC): Now, the issue of the day: taxes. A Liberal backbencher says a carbon tax is on the table. Liberals go into damage control, saying he misspoke. The problem: it was delivered in a web chat. He typed it. Twice.

John Duffy (L): As the Canadian Press reported, Ms. Horwath is "standing behind a candidate who is coming under fire from the other parties for comments he made about religion and Nazis." We don't know how much quality control went into the NDP's candidate selection process, but one imagines we're going to find out in the days ahead.

Jason Lietaer (PC): A lot is still up for grabs in this election: Will the NDP be able to match the growth seen in the last three weeks of the federal campaign? Will Dalton McGuinty begin to beat back a prospective vote-stealing NDP surge? The pre-game is ending. Now the real match begins.

Heather Fraser (NDP): Andrea Horwath's got a plan to freeze tuition fees. Meanwhile the Liberal's are running on a plan to reduce tuition by 30 per cent. A likely story. Just like on other issues, the Liberals want us to believe they'll do something when the record shows they won't.

Jason Lietaer (PC): Liberals (and the NDP) ridicule our plans to put prisoners to work. They think GPS bracelets on sex offenders is a dumb idea. And a website that tracks sexual predators? Ridiculous. I ask, though: if not these ideas, what? Is Dalton McGuinty satisfied that he's doing enough?

John Duffy (L): For the PCs, the core proposition is the idea that Premier McGuinty's Liberals manipulate the public policy of the province to their own purposes and those of their favoured constituencies, leaving the "rest of us" to pick up the tab. Call this concept "restitution." The Liberals have a different construction of "change." Call their concept "uniting."

Heather Fraser (NDP): The Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals have been engaged in a war of words over the flawed Liberal proposal for a new Ontarian tax credit. The Liberals clearly launched a platform plank they knew would goad the Tories into a reaction. And the Tories' predictable reaction serves only to divide people and communities by setting Ontarians against their neighbours.

Jason Lietaer (PC): Guess how many months in a row Ontario's unemployment rate has been above the national average? Fifty-six. Dalton McGuinty is now the Joe DiMaggio of Ontario politics, and not in a good way.